Ever had that itch to try something you've never done before in your retirement? I did!

Big Sur Residentsoil on canvas24 x 18 inches2011

Just Another Santa Fe Sunsetoil on canvas24 x 18 inches2007

Santa Fe Majestic Colorsoil on canvas24 x 18 inches2009

The Visitation at Medjugorje oil on canvas16 x 12 inches2010

After five years of Santa Fe, New Mexico retirement filled with skiing, playing tennis and trying to make sense of the financial markets, I decided to take acrylic painting lessons in January 2005 with my wife, Susan, from Jakki Kouffman, a noted Santa Fe acrylic and pastel artist. I always felt I had a latent but keen sense of color and graphic composition. After six years of concentrated training with Jakki, Robert De Leon, and Theo Becker of the Napa Valley plus workshops with Don Ward of Taos and Gretchen Kimball of the Napa Valley, I have centered my art interest to landscapes and religious images using water soluble oil paints. I aspire to the breathtaking, impressionistic and realistic landscapes of Claude Monet, Wilson Hurley, Peter Hagen and Irby Brown, my heroes.

The landscapes exhibited are 'starts' from plein air workshops I attended and from photographs taken from my home in the Napa Valley, Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Aspen, Colorado. My passion for art is driven toward achieving a 'humbling level' in my paintings of the beauty God has bestowed on the landscapes of many parts of the world and especially on the Napa Valley and New Mexico.

In my former working life I was an executive of The Coca-Cola Company in Atlanta, Georgia and the California wine industry where I was president of Sterling Vineyards, Chateau St. Jean and Lyeth Winery. My wife and I recently returned to the Napa Valley where her family is involved in the wine business and local real estate development. I am available for commissions and sale of my art at 707-967-9227 or gregdelucca@comcast.net .